Speechless
by StarryKnight46
Summary: Timothy McGee is seriously injured while taking down some drug lords. How will the team react to working with the new McGee - assuming he even gets to keep his job? Probably McAbby and Tiva at some point. Rated to be safe.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Boss! Boss, they're headed this way!" Tony said frantically into his microphone, hearing the sounds of running and heavy breathing through his earwig.

"Catch those bastards, DiNozzo," came Gibbs' voice from the other end.

"You heard the man, McGee, run!" Tony shouted to McGee, who was crouching behind a parked car a few yards away. McGee pulled his gun, and he and Tony began to run up the sloped parking garage, their ears trained on the squeals of car wheels.

A speeding black Ford Escalade flashed its brights in their direction, momentarily blinding McGee. He reached his hand up to cover his eyes just as two gunshots rang out and echoed through the parking garage.

Tim's vision blurred. His world had been reduced to nothing but excruciating pain.

"McGee! Tim! _Tim…_" A blurry DiNozzo flickered in and out of sight as Timothy McGee's eyes fluttered shut.


	2. Still Alive

The cold, clear beeping of a heart monitor droned through the room.

Crisp, sterilized white sheets stood out against an all-white room.

Machines and tubes surrounded the motionless patient.

Tony DiNozzo and Abigail Sciuto waited patiently in a different room, perched anxiously on mismatched plastic chairs. Tony slept fretfully but Abby remained wide awake, despite the darkening bags beneath her kohl-rimmed eyes. Neither of them had moved from their seats in the last nine hours except to pace or to get a snack (which had remained untouched) from the vending machine.

A man in a white coat entered the room. Abby sat straight up, knocking Tony from his uneasy slumber.

"Timothy McGee will live."

Abby burst into tears. She leapt from her seat, ignoring the crease marks in her pants, and hugged the doctor at full force, sending his clipboard flying. A groggy Tony retrieved it and handed it back to the doctor.

"As I mentioned," said the doctor, straightening his coat, "he has been stabilized. We didn't even have to induce a coma. But it would be unwise to talk to him."

"May we see him, at least?" Abby pleaded.

"I'm afraid you may not like the results. He has been… badly wounded."

"How badly?" Tony asked, unsure as to whether he actually wanted to hear the results.

"He was shot twice," the doctor began, eliciting another small sob from Abby. "The first bullet tore through his right hand and destroyed several of his lumbrical muscles. The second grazed his larynx, damaging both of his laryngeal nerves. We were able to stem the blood flow and stabilize him, but it is highly likely that he will never be able to use his right hand…or talk… again."

Abby gasped.

"Thank you, Doctor," Tony said in a low voice. "May we see him anyway?"

"Tony…" Abby said, trailing off as Tony grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him.

"Abby, we need to see him. We owe him that. Especially if he's awake."

"You can come with me. He may or may not be awake," said the doctor, beckoning to the two of them to follow him.

Tim wasn't awake. He lay silently between the hospital sheets; the noise of the monitors around him were the only sounds in the room. Tears streamed down Abby's face as she took in the bandages around McGee's head and neck. His hands were beneath the blankets, so Abby couldn't see the bandages there.

Tony just looked stoically at his partner. He was wordlessly glad that McGee was alive. He didn't think he would have been able to handle two of his partners dead, especially not after Ziva's close call in Somalia. But McGee, mute and unable to use his right hand, would be so different from the way he'd always been. And Tony wasn't sure he'd be able to deal with this much change. He felt a sense of loss, an emptiness in his gut that nothing would be able to replace.

"Tony…" Abby's voice interrupted his thoughts. "You should call Gibbs and Ziva. Let them know he's alive."

"Right," Tony said. He stepped out of McGee's room and pressed 1 on his speed dial.

"Tony," came Gibbs' voice, breathless and quiet. "How is he?"

"Alive," Tony said. He heard twin sighs of relief on the other end; evidently he was on speakerphone.

"Injured?" came Ziva's voice, tinged with concern and a vulnerability that Tony had rarely heard before.

"Uh… yeah… shot twice, once in the hand and once in the throat. Second shot only just nicked his larynx, but…"

"But?"

"Damaged his vocal chords. Doc doesn't think he'll ever be able to talk or use his right hand again."

Another pair of sighs, followed by a soft crying. Tony gathered this was from Ziva.

"Did we get the drug lords?" Tony asked. He was suddenly angry. Those bastards were the reason Tim had been in critical condition for the last nine hours. They had killed a Navy lieutenant in a getaway chase a few weeks ago. And Tony was hoping to God that his desperate shots at the car had slowed it down enough for Gibbs and Ziva to catch up with it.

"We got 'em," Gibbs growled. "We put 'em away for possession, murder, and aggravated assault of a federal officer. Just finished putting them in jail."

"Good," Tony snapped.

"We're on our way to Bethesda now," Ziva said through tears. "We want to visit Tim." Then she – or Gibbs – hung up.

Tony shoved his phone back into his pocket and returned to Abby, who was holding McGee's good hand. He was still out cold.

"He's not awake," she said in a small voice.

"If he was, he wouldn't have anything to say," Tony said grimly. "Gibbs and Ziva are on their way."

"Did they get them?" Abby said angrily. Tony didn't even need to ask her to elaborate.

"Yeah. They got 'em."

The two of them fell silent, watching McGee's sleeping face. Tony couldn't even bring himself to try and lighten the mood. Lightening the mood hadn't worked so well for him lately, even though it was his usual way of coping.

_He'll be all right,_ Tony thought. _He's gotta be all right._

* * *

><p><strong>O noes, Timmy! O noes! D:<br>Please review, everyone!**_  
><em>


	3. What Happened?

_Timothy McGee was really quite comfortable. It was sort of nice, wherever he was._

_He really didn't have any idea where he was._

_Tim wracked his brain. His analytical mind had never failed him before, and he wouldn't let it fail him now. So he needed to figure out what exactly was happening to him. _

_His last conscious memory was Tony clouding his field of vision. Tony looked concerned, anxious, terrified… but why? Tim didn't feel like he was in any sort of trouble. Tony didn't need to worry about him. _

_Tim tried his hardest to remember what had happened before this. It was all very confusing. Pictures came to his mind in flashes, but he couldn't hold on to anything. All he could make out from his muddled memory were squealing tires and… were those gunshots?_

_Gunshots._

_No wonder Tony looked so worried._

_Tim wondered who had been shot. Obviously not Ziva. Ziva would have anyone who dared to aim a gun at her in a headlock in five seconds flat. _

_Tony probably didn't get shot, or else he would have looked like he was in pain. _

_And Gibbs? The thought of anyone shooting Gibbs was laughable. He was like this big impenetrable fortress. _

_Ducky and Abby rarely were in the field, so Tim doubted that they were harmed in any way._

_And that only left…_

Me? I was… shot?

_It couldn't be, Tim decided. Logically, it made absolutely no sense. If he had gotten shot, he would be in agony right now. But he wasn't. He felt relaxed. A little discombobulated, maybe, but otherwise he was almost happy. There was absolutely no way in hell that he had been…_

* * *

><p>The door to the hospital room creaked softly as Gibbs and Ziva entered it. Abby and Tony sat in chairs opposite the bed, their eyes trained on McGee, watching for any signs of wakefulness.<p>

"You two," Gibbs said gently so as not to wake McGee. "Go home. Get some sleep. You'll need it."

"Absolutely not," Abby said, at the exact same time Tony protested, "No way, Boss."

"That's an order," Gibbs said in a tone that almost denoted a warning.

Abby stood, looked at Gibbs firmly for a moment, then crossed the room to stretch out on the other, empty hospital bed.

Gibbs approached the side. "I thought you might do that," he said, a hint of a smile on his face. "That's why I brought you these."

He handed her a bag, which she opened hesitantly. Inside, Gibbs had packed Burt and a pair of Abby's favorite pajamas.

Abby looked at the gifts for a few seconds, her upper lip quivering. Then she stood up and allowed Gibbs to engulf her in a hug. "He's gonna be okay, Abby. He's going to live. So sleep now. We'll wake you up if he wakes up," Gibbs assured her. Abby wiped a few more stray tears from her cheeks before shuffling into the adjacent bathroom to change.

"And Tony," Gibbs said, slightly louder.

"Not leaving, Boss," Tony said firmly. "I'm gonna grab forty on the floor by Abby." Gibbs shook his head and sighed before tossing Tony a few blankets. Tony assembled a makeshift bed on the ground next to Abby's and curled up.

Ziva had ignored all of this, having taken Tony's seat and having adopted the same focused stare, searching for any indication that McGee was awake. She examined the thick bandages surrounding McGee's neck, almost shuddering at the thought of what lay beneath them. Tony had said that McGee would likely not be able to talk again. Ziva rarely cried, but she allowed herself to weep for him. It was awful to think about how Tim would react upon learning what he had lost.

Gibbs took the seat beside her, having finally convinced Abby to get some rest. He rested his head in his hands, visibly exhausted.

"Why?" Ziva heard him mutter, although she was relatively certain that it was a rhetorical question and that any answer she gave wouldn't be appreciated. Not that Ziva had any answers to that question in the first place. In fact, she was silently asking herself the same thing.

Why?

* * *

><p><em>It was a difficult realization for Tim. There was no one else who could have been shot except him. But it didn't make any sense! Perhaps if he figured out where he was, he would be able to find more concrete answers. Maybe if he found Abby, she could tell him what happened. She could use her forensic skills to prove to him exactly why it didn't make sense that he had been shot.<em>

_Of course, finding Abby depended on whether or not Tim could figure out where the hell he was. This was so frustrating to him. He rarely got lost. He was a Webelos, for Christ's sake! _

_Tim became aware that he was in a sort of parking garage. Well, that's what it mostly resembled. There were cars everywhere._

"_You heard the man, McGee, run!" _

_Oh! Tony's voice! Tim knew that Tony was around here somewhere. Maybe if he could find Tony, he'd be able to get to the bottom of this._

_He saw his partner running up ahead._

"_Tony, wait!" he attempted to call out before he realized his throat wasn't working. No matter how hard to tried, he couldn't bring himself to make a noise. _

_Tony's gun was drawn._

Maybe I should pull my weapon too.

_Tim reached for his gun but… why wasn't he able to move his arm? He flailed for a few seconds but he couldn't seem to find his gun. Had he lost it? Impossible. Tim was far too well trained to make such a probie mistake._

_Two gunshots._

_Pain in his hand. Pain in his throat…_

_Oh God! His throat! McGee couldn't breathe. He couldn't scream. It was all he could do to try to get a little more oxygen to his lungs before…_

_Tony's frightened face leered above him once again…_

* * *

><p>Timothy McGee's eyes flew open. He was awake.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Oo, weird dream sequences are weird.<br>Review, though! :D**


	4. Don't Panic

The moment Tim's eyes opened, Gibbs and Ziva jumped a little. Both had been shaken from their silent, brooding reveries by the sudden movement of eyelashes.

McGee's mouth worked slowly, trying to maneuver around the bandages that held his head and jaw in place before Gibbs realized he was trying to talk.

"No," Gibbs said quietly. McGee's brow furrowed, and his eyes betrayed a flash of pain. Even contorting his face into a questioning look was causing so much unnecessary strain…

"Don't try to talk just yet," Gibbs half-whispered. "I will explain what happened. Blink once if you can understand what I'm saying."

McGee's face relaxed and he blinked. His eyes darted around the room, taking in the surroundings. He appeared to be in a hospital room, and the lights were dimmed; McGee assumed it was probably nighttime.

Gibbs motioned to Ziva to go get the others. She stood silently and crossed the room to gently awaken Tony and Abby, each of whom had dozed into a fitful slumber. Abby shot upright, nearly smacking right into Ziva, who jumped out of the way just in time. Tony awoke less violently, but it took him a few seconds before he realized where he was and what being awake must mean. The three of them returned to Tim's bedside; Gibbs and Tony crouched next to the bed while Abby and Ziva took the chairs. McGee opened his mouth to speak again but Abby whisper-yelled "_No!_" and Tony and Gibbs shook their heads. Ziva remained stony, but a tear trickled from her eye.

"Tim, I'm going to tell you what has happened to you, but you need to promise me that you will listen silently and not make any sudden movements, or –" Gibbs' voice faltered a little, "or sounds. Blink twice if you promise me that."

The team could practically see the cogs working sluggishly in McGee's sedative-slowed brain, but after a few moments he blinked his eyes twice.

"You got shot," Gibbs started. McGee grimaced as if to say, _yeah, I figured as much_. "Once in the hand," Gibbs motioned to McGee's right arm hidden beneath the blankets, "and once in the throat."

McGee's left hand made a jerking movement, as if he meant to feel for the bandages around his neck, but the room erupted in protest. Both Abby and Ziva shouted "_Tim!_" in alarm and Tony jumped to his feet as if to physically restrain him, but Gibbs was quicker; he held Tim's forearm in a vicelike grip and hissed, "No sudden movements."

The beeping heart monitor next to McGee's bed sped up as he began to panic. His legs thrashed in protest as his arm fought against Gibbs' grasp. He threw his mouth open to gasp for air, making a horrible rattling noise. Abby clapped a hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks. Ziva and Tony had bolted from the room to fetch the nurse on duty, but Abby couldn't tear her eyes away from McGee having a breakdown before her eyes.

One of the nurses rushed in, armed with a syringe full of sedative. She barked for Gibbs to get out of the way and pushed the needle into Tim's IV. Gradually his breathing slowed and his wild eyes fluttered shut. Gibbs took a deep breath and relinquished his grip on McGee's arm, returning again to resting his head in his hands. Once the nurse finished adjusting McGee's blankets around him, she turned to the team, who had returned and were standing sheepishly by McGee's bedside.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to speak to him at the present time," she said. "Clearly he isn't ready to handle the stress. You folks should go home and _get some rest_ before disturbing the peace of a patient's slumber," the nurse chastised before leaving the room.

Ziva and Tony looked to Gibbs.

"You heard 'er," Gibbs muttered. "Go home. Sleep. Tonight has been stressful. I don't need to see either of you in the office tomorrow."

The pair shared a dubious look before gathering their things and leaving the room.

Abby sat on one of the hard chairs, still shaking. Gibbs pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"He's going to be okay, Abs," Gibbs whispered, before planting a soft kiss on her temple. "He's going to be okay."


End file.
